3.5/5
Okay, let me get this out of the way first: I know that this episode is rated the same as the premiere, but I do think that it’s a better episode than the first one. I don’t think that it’s at a 4 star level just yet, but I do think it’s higher than a 3.5, although at IMR we round to the nearest .5 so 3.5 is what you’re getting.
Anyways, here’s my take on the third episode of Killing Eve season 4, entitled “A Rainbow in Beige Boots”.
Call me crazy, but I take back what I said about Killing Eve‘s showrunners (after Phoebe Waller-Bridge) not knowing where they’re going with the show. After this episode, I kind of might be trusting Laura Neal to give us a good ending.
I really did like how quickly the show abandoned the whole born again Christian thing that Villanelle had going on since it didn’t really work and was a let down for a lot of fans and viewers who were hoping to see what happened with the bridge scene (which they haven’t mentioned at all, BTW). I really hope that they abandon this whole storyline with the Twelve because I don’t think anyone cares about it, but I know that’s not going to happen.
We get hints of the old Villanelle back with her dressing up as a maid to sneak into Eve’s room, her killing again, the way that she talks about Eve (more on that later), but Eve seems to have moved on from Villanelle and onto the Twelve (more on that later too).
But what I didn’t realize I missed so much was Unloved’s soundtrack.
Can we get a round of applause for Unloved? They’re great and their music fits the show so well and I didn’t realize how much they affected the show until they were barely there in the first two episodes.
Anyways, let me first get some of the side characters out of the way.
The mortician Pam has a really sad life and a dick brother and I nodded in agreement when she finally killed him. Helene was not too thrilled about that because Pam apparently isn’t ready to be an assassin for the Twelve.
Konstantin is still thriving as mayor and still in cahoots with Helene and what ever happened to his daughter? Is she still around? Did they write her out of the show? Also why is he mayor? Moving on;
I’m going to count Carolyn in this section because although I love her and Fiona Shaw, I really don’t care about what’s happening with her storyline this season. Carolyn is still hiding out with that Vlad guy and still doing… something.
Anyways, back to Eve.
Eve’s still fixated on the Twelve and has a theory that Helene is as clueless as the rest of them about who’s at the top and is just torturing her way through them for answers. Boring stuff. I don’t care about the Twelve.
But, from this storyline we do get Eve using her spying skills to get close to Helene’s ex, something that feels very early-season Killing Eve, but instead of information on Villanelle, it’s information on Helene.
Speaking of Villanelle, after she breaks into Eve’s room and gets a change of clothes (she looks so good in that suit), she breaks into Martin’s house and… gets a therapy session? It’s very Killing Eve and very Villanelle, and we finally get more Villanelle fashion!
Again. She is wearing the hell out of that suit. And I don’t just mean Jodie Comer, I mean Villanelle. The way that she transforms into her is just *chefs kiss*.
Let’s see that look again. For science.
Okay I’m done now.
Anyways, Villanelle is very clearly still obsessed with Eve, she tells Martin about wanting to listen to the boring parts of her day and wanting to smell her skin and everything and it’s reminiscent of the season 1 finale and I really like it.
But Eve isn’t obsessed with Villanelle. After telling her about the scorpion and the frog where they both end up dead, Eve gets a text and we realize what she’s done. She’s called the cops. As Villanelle is handcuffed and taken away, we as viewers are left to wonder: has Eve really moved on?
Other than a couple of moments in the episode where she describes Villanelle as an abusive, controlling ex to Francesca, Eve spends the days not thinking about Villanelle. In fact, she seems to have found to new obsession: Helene.
Hear me out here, she’s gathering all this information and has a murder-board and is having these tense kitchen scenes… with Helene. Another classy, attractive, rich and dangerous woman. She even lies down on her bed while on the phone with her like a giddy schoolgirl talking to her crush at the end of the episode.
Now, I don’t think that the writers are stupid. I think this is deliberate. I think that the writers are setting this up for a reason and things will work out in the end and I think that Helene is probably most definitely going to die at some point, probably by the hand of Villanelle or Eve. Or at least I hope so. I get what they’re trying to do with the dynamic being shifted from Villanelle and Eve to Helene and Eve but I really miss the mutual obsession, cat and mouse game of it all.
But I think that we’re headed in a good direction. Villanelle has gotten out of prison before, I have faith that she’ll do it again.
Killing Eve is available on BBC America and AMC+.
Impulse Media Reviews 
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